trampoline
by Axletia Rosonetis
Summary: Sometimes the outdoors are a bad thing. Phaesporiashipping. Oneshot.


_trampoline_

Cynthia scribbled in a notebook, concentrating hard on the quarterly reports that she had to turn in to the League officials in two weeks. Or tried her hardest to concentrate. Even though the shades were drawn, it was hard to concentrate in her office, especially on such a sunny day. The last time she had been in her office was on that really rainy day in April and the weatherman had declared East Sinnoh under a flood watch, advising everyone to stay indoors and to _not_ go outside unless under extreme circumstances. That day she and Flint made s'mores and watched a flash of lightning hit a tree branch that fell onto his motorcycle. (Fortunately, just like Flint, his motorcycle also had enough spirit to survive.)

She continued to scribble until there was a knock on the door. Bertha walked in a couple of seconds later, holding a smaller stack of paper. Staring at the paper with wide eyes, Cynthia couldn't help but groan. "Hi, Bertie. Can't this wait?"

Bertha shrugged, taking the seat across from her. "Don't worry, hon, these aren't more forms for you to fill out," There was a sigh of relief, but the older woman shook her head, "but I need you to look over them. We got an order today from Lumiose City in the Kalos region, one trampoline with some assembly required. Not that a trampoline's bad or anything, but it was ordered under the League budget? Did you authorize this?"

"Oh, yeah! It came so soon? That was pretty fast. Ebay said it'd take between six to eight weeks."

She almost forgot about the trampoline. A few weeks ago when they were on vacation together, Diantha had slipped that she had enjoyed bouncing on trampolines in the backyard when she was a little kid. Of course, when Cynthia heard this, she knew that buying one would be a sound investment for them. Between the Kalos League and her acting career, Diantha didn't have as nearly much free time on her hands, so whatever made her happy made Cynthia happy.

However, finding a good trampoline wasn't as cheap as she thought, and shipping it from the Kalos region only tacked on extra costs, even though said cost could've been avoided by buying it at the local Walmart. Therefore, she had a plan, and a convincing one, one that would surely soften ol' Bertie's exasperated look. "I…bought it under the League budget for temporary League ownership," she said slowly, absentmindedly drawing a stick figure on top of her report. "The League will rent it until I can buy it back at a slightly higher price. Flint can make sick cartwheels in the air, and everyone will benefit from it."

"Cindy, honey, I'm turning 65 this year. What is someone like me going to do with a trampoline?"

"You can lay on it while…we…jump around you?…"

"Could help my back. This is for Diantha, isn't it?"

"Well, yeah…"

"Well, you don't need to keep buying things for her to try and impress her. She's already impressed by you, and you two clearly like each other a lot. Remember the time you bought the cotton candy making machine? And that exercise machine from that infomercial? And those twenty packs of Yu Gi Oh cards? We always have fun with your purchases, but-"

"I'm still pissed we didn't get any rare cards."

"-we usually fall behind on our work whenever you order something."

Cynthia winced. Sometimes she really hated being the boss. Whenever she had to work at the office, there wasn't much room for fun. And Bertha was right. Between the five of them, the Sinnoh League probably spent the least time in the office amongst all six main regions. Most of their time was spent on each field work or battling trainers…and, admittedly, most of those battles were for fun as well. As the Champion of their league, she was supposed to set a good example for them. She was sure that Diantha held a high standard for _her_ Elite Four crew.

Watery gray eyes looked down upon the half page she had worked on so far. They lingered on the words for a few moments, unblinking, wavering, until finally Bertha let out a small sigh. "Hey, Cindy, you've been workin' on this for some time now," she said, patting her hand. "Why don't you take a little break and play with the trampoline a little? It'd be a waste to spend such a beautiful day indoors."

"Thanks, Bertie."

She leaned over to kiss Bertha on the cheek, then flung off her jacket as she ran out of the office. The outdoors was her playground, and the trampoline was her rad, new playground toy. If Diantha couldn't be there, she would make sure she would have enough fun for the both of them.

* * *

"Prince, dearest, what happened to your arm?"

The worried look that Diantha gave over the videophone made Cynthia look down to her knees, blushing. She was sure that any cast would make one worried, but she just wished she could've hidden it from her girlfriend a little longer. "It's a funny story, actually," she mumbled sheepishly, tugging on a long blond lock of hair. "Our league bought a trampoline, and I was jumping on it with Flint, and while he was doing a sick cartwheel in the air, he kinda kicked me and I kinda broke my arm…"

"Oh! I'm so sorry. Were you able to finish your report?"

"I got an extension, so Lucy's helping me finish it. And the good news is that my arm will be all healed for more jumping when you come out here! "

Diantha groaned. Behind her she could feel Bertha frowning at her, probably holding the medical bills that had been flooding into her mailbox in the past week. Perhaps this was a sign that maybe it wasn't all that bad to spend more time in the office and listen to others' advice. Tugging on her shirt with her free hand, Cynthia pressed her lips together in a half-smile. "Everything'll be fine! I gotta go, though. Really need to get this paperwork sorted out."

"Do you need me to keep track of your credit card purchases? I thought we talked about the League purchases last month,"

"…maybe later. Love you~"

She quickly hung up and looked longingly at the trampoline that was abandoned outside, blanketed with a light shade of leaves and broken flower petals. It would be forever until she could have fun with Diantha again…

* * *

 _(Original notes: nothing relevant)_

 _Originally written May 17th, 2015 on tumblr. Trampolines are an evil tool._


End file.
